THE CONSTELLATION APPROACH. Jamy Faust

ago and very far away. When we let ourselves feel our deep, ancestral connection with our Family of Origin, we awaken to our own unique Soul nature—along with our Soul’s choice to be part of this family lineage.⁷

      Rings of Influence and Levels of Conscience

      In our journey towards peace with our Family of Origin, it’s important to understand that each of us is affected by influences on our Family of Origin’s conscious and unconscious actions and beliefs. These Rings of Influence are similar to magnetic fields in the way they exert a pressure to stay within the sphere of the group. The Rings are comparable to the Sociogram,⁸ which was described in the writings of Jacob Moreno, the founder of Psychodrama. According to Moreno, human beings are akin to an atom’s nucleus, but larger electromagnetic forces such as family, religion, ethnicity, political affiliations, and congenital illness surround us and direct our movements.

      Like atoms, all organizing relationships develop rules, norms, beliefs, and taboos that bind the network together. This creates a system, a systemic order. Those who adhere belong to the group; those who don’t are excluded. As a member within a system, we may feel superior, innocent, or most importantly, that we belong. Yet, to another system, bound by a different set of rules, norms, beliefs, and taboos, we may appear guilty, unreasonable, and excessive. None of us individually has the power to stop the effects of these systemic forces, yet we all bear some of the weight and consequence for the actions of the group to which we belong. These mighty Rings of Influence contribute to something considerable larger than us or our families. They serve the still-larger non-personal consciousness of country, society, and humanity.

      After working with hundreds of families over many years, Bert Hellinger began to recognize these greater influences as something mysterious, often unconscious, unseen, yet ever-present—calling them the limits of conscience.⁹

      We identify them as four levels of conscience—the personal, familial, collective, and that of the Spirit-Mind.

      •Individual conscience relates to those to whom we feel connected—parents, siblings, partners, children, friends, relatives, and groups. This conscience has different standards for each of our different relationships: one for our relationship to our father, another for that with our mother, one for the church/temple, another for the workplace. The individual conscience is held within the family conscience and measured through feelings of guilt and innocence.

      •Family conscience often remains unrecognized. We neither feel nor hear this conscience, but we experience its effects as passed from one generation to the next. The family conscience holds everyone’s personal histories, different fates, and important life events. It’s a system with order safeguarding the right of membership for all who belong to the family. It protects the bonds between its members. Family conscience also plays out over generations. Examples of loyalty to the family conscience include the following: marrying within the religion, continuing a lineage of shipbuilders, repeating several generations of alcoholism, etc.

      •Collective conscience or Societal conscience, as defined by sociologist Emile Durkheim, is the set of shared beliefs, ideas, and moral attitudes that operate as a unifying force within society. Like the family conscience, we can’t feel or hear the collective conscience, yet it affects us each waking moment of our lives. The family conscience is considered part of the collective conscience. As an example of collective-conscience shifting, consider the evolution of Gay rights over the last several decades.

      •Spirit-Mind guides us beyond the other realms of conscience. It requires great spiritual effort because it tears us away from obedience to the dictates of our family, religion, culture, and personal identity. It challenges us to leave behind what we have previously known. Indescribable and mysterious, the Spirit-Mind is unbound and free. It does not follow the laws of our individual or familial conscience. Marrying outside our race or nationality, refusing to go to war, or joining a revolution are a few of the ways in which we may follow the Spirit-Mind.

      Guilt and Innocence—The Operating System of Conscience

      In our journey towards acceptance with our Family of Origin, there is a curious tension between innocence and guilt when it comes to whether or not we “belong.” Conscience is always functioning within us. But a clear or guilty conscience has little to do with good and evil, right and wrong, but rather how one’s actions align within our systems of belief. Conversely, we can feel quite guilty for honoring our Soul consciousness when it deviates from what others expect of us. Each of us wants to belong. We need to feel the safety of social convention and predictability of order. These are fundamental needs. In order to have these needs met our conscience demands one need and forbids another.